The Film Wall » War

The Concrete Cowboys (1979)

rakeshp — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:14:06 +0000

Two Montana saddletramps head for bustling Music City and open up a detective agency in this comical adventure that was originally the pilot of a television series. Not only do the two have to accustom themselves to strange big-city ways, they have to learn to become less inept at the gumshoe game as they try to expose extortionists and return a missing singer. Singers Barbara Mandrell and Roy Acuff make cameo appearances. On video the film is titled Ramblin’ Man.

The Challenge (1970)

rakeshp — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:33:30 +0000

This TV movie proposes that at some future date, America will be at loggerheads against some unnamed Asiatic power. Realizing that all-out nuclear war will decimate the planet, the two countries decide to boil down their argument to two combatants. Darren McGavin, an army malcontent, is the American “delegate’, while martial-arts expert Mako is the Asian. They are place together on a small Pacific Island and ordered to duke it out on behalf of their countries–winner take all. According to the press release, both men learn “that there is a higher morality than temporary politics.” The shamefaced director of The Challenge was able to hide behind the pseudonymous cognomen “Allan Smithee”; unfortunately Darren McGavin and Mako weren’t offered that option.

Bon Voyage (1944)

mithu — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:15:40 +0000

A young Alfred Hitchcock made this propaganda film as an homage to the courageous members of the French Resistance as he tells the tale of a British RAF pilot who escapes from France with the assistance of the French Underground and a treacherous Nazi informer.

When Soldiers Cry (2010)

rashmeet — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:54:39 +0000

1965 South Vietnam, two American Soldiers find themselves trapped in the Jungle with a War surrounding them. The only thing keeping them alive is the promises in their hearts they kept to their families – to return home at any cost. One Soldier, Private David M. Church awakes from being rendered unconscious to find all of his squad killed by the Vietcong. Three Days by foot, he must travel to the Landing Zone for extraction. In the distant Jungle, Church comes across an injured VC and makes him pay for the lives of his squad. Payment comes in the form of a bullet to the VC shoulder. Moving closer Church finds out the farmer dressed VC is actually an American Tunnel Rat. Mentally broken, Church carries the Tunnel Rat closer to the LZ. Along the way Church finds other American Soldiers in need of help. Death follows as Church makes a gallant effort to save lives in dire desperation to reach the LZ. The VC, and one of his own claim anyone that attempts to leave the Jungle. Church reaches the LZ, but it costs him everything, including his promise. Save yourself, or save a life other than your own… full well knowing you won’t make it out of the Jungle alive.

Un Ami Viendra Ce Soir (1945)

mithu — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:34:41 +0000

Returning to films after a six-year absence, French director Raymond Bernard called the shots on Un Ami Viendra Ce Soir (A Friend Will Come Tonight). Michel Simon heads the cast of this pulse-pounding WWII resistance film, set surprisingly in an insane asylum. In truth, the establishment is but a front for anti-Nazi underground activities; after all, who would suspect a group of lunatics? Some of the scenes in which the French patriots feign insanity to throw the Nazis off the track may seem a bit ludicrous to American viewers, but director Bernard makes up for these off-kilter moments with a thrilling finale. Un Ami Viendra ce Soir works on a pure-entertainment level, but it isn’t nearly as good as La Bataille du Rails, Rene Clement’s definitive French Underground drama.

Cross of Iron (1976)

rakeshp — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:08:01 +0000

A quote from Bertolt Brecht ends this bitter and angry war film by Sam Peckinpah: “Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again.” Peckinpah’s intense and belligerently non-commercial work, (based on the book by Willi Heinrich), is a World War II tale told from the German perspective, following a platoon of German soldiers in the Russia of 1943, when the German Wehrmacht forces had been decimated and the Germans were retreating along the Russian front. James Coburn is Steiner, a German corporal and recipient of the Iron Cross who feels that he owes his loyalty to his family and fellow soldiers and not to Hitler and the German war machine. But when a new commander, Captain Stransky (Maximillian Schell), takes over the platoon, Steiner and Stransky come into immediate conflict. Stransky is a career soldier, the complete opposite of Steiner, and a man who pledges himself heart and soul to Hitler and the war. But he envies Steiner for having been awarded an Iron Cross and deeply desires one himself. The problem is Stransky is a complete coward and recognizes that the only way he can be awarded an Iron Cross would be to get the bitter Steiner on his side.

Attack and Reprisal (1946)

mithu — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:30:02 +0000

American involvement in World War II began and ended violently. The attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States to Europe in defense of the Allied forces. Four years later, America halted all opposition when it dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Both of these events are replayed in the documentary Attack and Reprisal. Compliments of the U.S. War and Navy departments, actual footage comprises this release. The terror and damage witnessed in Pearl Harbor are dwarfed by the destruction in Japan. In Hiroshima alone, 100,000 people died when the atomic bomb was dropped. Nagasaki also hosted a final blow. This dramatic program re-creates the tragic incidents that stand as a consequence of war.

Border Saddlemates (1952)

pupu — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:44:44 +0000

Singing cowboy Rex Allen and his faithful horse Koko head the cast in Border Saddlemates. This time, Rex in on the trail of counterfeiters (Republic’s favorite villains of the 1951-52 season). Criminal mastermind Steve Baxter (Roy Barcroft) is smuggling fake money across the Mexican border while using a fox farm as a cover. But Rex ends up (here it comes!) out-foxing Baxter in the exciting finale. Virtually the same plotline was used in the concurrently-released Republic oater Wild Horse Ambush, even unto casting Roy Barcroft as the villain (but then, wasn’t he always the villain?)

Battle of the Coral Sea (1959)

pupu — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:56:01 +0000

Although the actual battle of the Coral Sea does not begin this standard wartime drama, there is plenty of action and suspense as the preparation stage of the battle is carried out. A submarine captained by Jeff Conway (Cliff Robertson) successfully scouts the location of enemy installations, ships, and subs and then starts to head back to friendly waters. Before chugging very far in that direction, the submarine is spotted and captured by the Japanese. The crew members are taken prisoner by an even-handed Commander Mori (Teru Shimada) and held on the Japanese forces’ island base. While chaffing under a ticking clock as the day of the final confrontation draws near, an island woman is secretly enlisted to help smuggle out three of the prisoners. If they can make it off the island to their own base, then the all-important information on the Japanese positions will tip the scales in favor of the U.S. Navy.

Barbed Wire (1952)

pupu — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:27:07 +0000

Gene Autry plays a cattle buyer in the better-than-average formula western Barbed Wire. Investigating a paucity of fresh livestock, Autry returns to his home turf of Texas. Here he discovers that powerful ranch owner Steve Ruttledge (Leonard Penn) has been fencing off valuable grazing land, preventing the cattle men from bringing their stock to market. The trouble is, Ruttledge’s methods, while underhanded, are well within the limits of the law. This doesn’t stop Autry from finding a legal method to thwart Ruttledge’s megalomanic dreams–and, incidentally, to clean the villain’s clock in the closing reels. Barbed Wire was produced by Armand Schafer, the man in charge of Gene Autry’s “Flying A” TV-production empire.

The Buccaneer (1958)

pupu — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:24:43 +0000

When Cecil B. DeMille was set to direct a re-make of his 1938 swashbuckler The Buccaneer and suddenly became ill, his son-in-law, Anthony Quinn, jumped into DeMille’s jodhpurs. In this version, Yul Brynner plays the starring role of debonair pirate Jean Lafitte, who is contacted by General Andrew Jackson (Charlton Heston) to come to the aid of the United States when the British attack New Orleans during the War of 1812. Lafitte immediately falls in love with Annette Claiborne (Inger Stevens), the daughter of William Claiborne (E.G. Marshall), the first governor of Louisiana.

Bessmertny Garnizon (1956)

pupu — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:13:32 +0000

The Immortal Garrison is set in June of 1941, at the outset of the Nazi invasion of Russia. A group of Soviet servicemen, languidly biding their time at the Brest fortress on the Polish border, are suddenly galvanized into action. All desires to return home to their wives and sweethearts are swept aside as the courageous garrison unites to thwart a common enemy. The siege of Brest has served as story material for countless Russian films: in lieu of contradictory evidence, Immortal Garrison must be adjudged the best of these films. For its American release, Immortal Garrison was double-featured with another Soviet production, The Mexican.

The Chisholms (1979)

rakeshp — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:36:56 +0000

The Chisholms was a three-part miniseries adapted by Evan Hunter from his own novel. Covering the years 1842 through 1844, the dramatization follows the westward trek of the Chisholm family. Patriarch Robert Preston is driven from his midwestern homestead by a feud. Starting down the Ohio river, Preston and his family head for the greener pastures of Oregon. In Part Two, a romantic angle is introduced thanks to young lovers Stacey Nelkin and Charles Frank, while the Chisholms’ safety is threatened by thieves and hostile lawmen. Several deaths impede the family’s progress in Part Three, which brings the pilgrims to Wyoming. Spread out over four weeks (from March 29 through April 19, 1979), this miniseries version of The Chisholms served as the precursor to a weekly TV series, which did without the services of Robert Preston (who was unceremoniously knocked off in the first episode).

Collision Course (1976)

rakeshp — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:22:22 +0000

Collision Course was adapted from Merle Miller’s Plain Speaking, a biography of former President Harry Truman. E.G. Marshall plays Truman, while Henry Fonda costars as General Douglas MacArthur This made-for-TV movie recounts the events leading up to the 1951 firing of General MacArthur during the Korean conflict. In the pivotal scene, an apoplectic Truman verbally lambastes the arrogant MacArthur for failing to show proper respect to his commander in chief. Heavily slanted in favor of Truman’s point of view, Collision Course was pilloried by conservative critics, who felt that MacArthur was depicted as a vainglorious zealot rather than a misguided patriot.

Coming Home (1978)

rakeshp — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:06:46 +0000

Hal Ashby’s 1978 melodrama examines the impact of the Vietnam War on the “war at home” among the men who fought it and the women in their lives. Left alone in Los Angeles when her gung-ho Marine husband Bob (Bruce Dern) heads to Vietnam in 1968, proper wife Sally Hyde (Jane Fonda) decides to volunteer at the V.A. hospital where her new friend Vi (Penelope Milford) works. There she meets Luke Martin (Jon Voight), a former high-school classmate and Marine who has returned from ‘Nam a bitter paraplegic. As their relationship grows, Sally sees the effect of the war on the soldiers after they come back, inspiring her to rethink her priorities; Luke’s spirits begin to lift, and a hospital tragedy helps focus his anger toward meaningful protest. After a Hong Kong visit with her increasingly withdrawn husband, Sally finds a love and companionship with Luke that she had never known with her husband. Once Bob comes home with his own injury, however, the three must find a way to deal with a changing world and with a system that betrayed the men fighting for it.